The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for additive manufacturing using a tubular aluminum wire as a source material.
Additive manufacturing systems generally involve the construction of parts in a bottom-up fashion. In generally, in additive manufacturing, the parts may be formed in a deposit-by-deposit or layer-by-layer process, whereby a source material is successively deposited on top of itself to gradually form (e.g., build or print) a completed part. Additive manufacturing systems are useful for rapid prototyping, and can produce complex parts with a high degree of precision and with little waste of source material. Different additive manufacturing systems can use different types of source materials, such as metals, polymers, and ceramics, to construct different types of parts.
Aluminum and aluminum alloys are widely used as construction material due to their relatively low density and high corrosion resistance compared to other metals. For example, aluminum alloys may provide strengths between approximately 50 megapascal (MPa) and approximately 700 megapascal (MPa). Since aluminum has a high affinity for oxygen, aluminum part fabrication may involve the use of an inert shielding gas to limit or prevent the formation of aluminum oxide (alumina) and undesirable inclusions. It may also be desirable to fabricate aluminum parts with relatively low porosity. One prominent source of such pores may be hydrogen that is released from, and forms voids within, the solidifying metal during part fabrication. Hydrogen gas may be formed via the decomposition of hydrogen-containing materials (e.g., moisture or organic materials, such as lubricants) during aluminum part fabrication. As such, it is desirable to prevent hydrogen-containing materials from being introduced into the additive manufacturing environment.